Meralco buys Aboitiz unit for coal plant

ENJD
Business World

MANILA ELECTRIC Co. (Meralco) has moved to acquire a controlling stake in the Aboitiz Power Corp. unit that is building a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant in Zambales, disclosures filed with the local bourse showed.

RP Energy has the development rights over the coal-fired power plant planned to rise at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The planned acquisition falls in step with Meralco’s plans to start building a 1,500-megawatt (MW) power generation portfolio starting with a 600-MW base load plant and a 150-MW peaking plant by 2014.

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Aboitiz coal plant bags Davao council approval

JOEL B. ESCOVILLA
BusinessWorld

DAVAO CITY -- Aboitiz Power Corp.’s plans to build a 300-megawatt, coal-fired power plant here has been granted endorsement by nearly all local councilors, thus paving the way for permits from the mayor and other state agencies to be released.
The city council also approved a corollary resolution on first reading that amends the site’s zoning to accommodate the power plant.

All but one councilor endorsed the P25-billion project at Tuesday’s regular session.

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Aboitiz subsidiary to power Batangas power distributor

BC/VS, GMA News

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Monday approved a three-year power supply contract between AP Renewables Inc. and First Bay Power Corp.

AP Renewables, a unit of the Aboitiz Power Corp., will be sourcing the power for Firs Bay from the Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant in Albay and the Makban Geothermal Power Plants in Laguna and Batangas.

Since acquiring the power plants, AP Renewables has been the assignee of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) contracts which includes First Bay. Two years ago, First Bay asked the ERC to extend the transition supply contract from Oct. 25, 2009 to Jan. 25, 2010.

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P25-billion Aboitiz coal power plant in Davao bags tax perks

BusinessWorld

ABOITIZ-LED Therma South, Inc. has bagged tax breaks for its coal power plant straddling Davao City and Davao del Sur, the Board of Incentives (BoI) said in a statement yesterday.
The 300-megawatt, P25-billion power plant is slated to operate by January 2015 and employ 121 personnel, the state agency said in a statement.

Under the current Investment Priorities Plan, power generation projects are among the preferred business activities qualified for incentives such as income tax holidays and duty-free entry of imported equipment.

Therma South is a wholly owned subsidiary of Therma Power, Inc. and an affiliate of Aboitiz Power Corp.

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Aboitiz allots P100-billion capex for power projects next 3 years

By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — The power generation segment of the Aboitiz conglomerate will chalk up the P100 billion capital expenditures (capex) that it has lined up from 2011 to 2013.

Aboitiz Power Corporation president and chief executive officer Erramon I. Aboitiz indicated that the projects covered by the capital outlay are just the items already approved, such as the coal plants to be sited in Subic and Davao.

“The capex will be spread over three years,” he stressed, adding that there would still be a probability for it to be revised upwards if its Magat plant expansion will be given approval this year.

“The Magat expansion has not been approved yet,” he stressed, but if that will be pursued this year that will add about $150 million in the company’s budget for 90-MW capacity addition.

For year 2011, the budget allocation will be P43 billion, just for the jumpstart point of the coal plants and the smaller hydro facilities as cast in the company’s investment blueprint.

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Aboitiz company to invest P42B in power business

By Aileen Garcia-Yap
Cebu Daily News

Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) will spend P42 billion this year to increase the capacity of its power-generation business.

Erramon Aboitiz, AEV president and chief executive officer, said after the AEV's annual stockholders meeting yesterday that of the P44 billion capital expenditure set for this year, P42 billion would be focused on the power-generation business while the P2 billion would be for AEV's other businesses in banking and food.

Aboitiz said the P44 billion capital expenditure this year was made possible after AEV, which is the holding company of the Aboitiz group of companies, achieved a record-high consolidated revenue increase of 113 percent in 2010 or close to P75 billion.

The AEV officials' decision to pour more investments into their power businesses was influenced by the excellent and still high growth potential for the business.

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Meralco plans joint venture with San Miguel, Aboitiz group

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power distributor, is keen on forming possible partnerships with power giants San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Power Corp. to help build its planned power portfolio of more than 1,500 megawatts.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, president and chief executive officer of Meralco, said the two companies were among the local and foreign groups that the distribution utility planned to tap for its power projects over the next four years.

Apart from the two power giants, Team Energy, a venture between Marubeni and Tokyo Electric and Power Co., and the Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc. were among those that have earlier approached Meralco for possible partnerships.

Discussions with DMCI were still ongoing, Pangilinan said.

Meralco expects to spend as much as $2.3 billion (about P103 billion) to complete its 1,500-MW power generation portfolio between now and 2016.

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Aboitiz Power net income drops by 31% to P5.1 B in first quarter

By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines – An average 19-percent drop on its selling costs due to lower prices at the electricity spot market has triggered the 31-percent plunge in the first quarter consolidated net income of Aboitiz Power Corporation to P5.106 billion from last year’s P7.4 billion.

With non-recurring items booked into its balance sheet – for its Therma Marine Inc. subsidiary and on the revaluation of consolidated dollar-denominated loans and placements; the company also logged a 34-percent reduction on its year-on-year core net income to P4.7 billion from P7.0 billion.

It has been estimated that prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) had fallen off by 66-percent as compared to the spikes experienced last year when Luzon grid experienced extreme tightening in supply due to the El Niño phenomenon.

For its distribution segment, the company registered an income growth of 107-percent to P454 million from the previous year’s P219 million. This has been mainly attributed to the 9.0-percent demand expansion of its industrial accounts; while posting marginal consumption growths of 1.0-percent and 2.0-percent for the residential and commercial subscribers, respectively, as serviced by its various power distribution subsidiaries.

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AboitizPower set to put up 300-MW plant in Mindanao- abs-cbnnews.com

By Paul Anthony Isla, Business Mirror

MANILA, Philippines - Listed AboitizPower Corp. said on Friday it is prepared to invest in the future of Mindanao as it looks into putting up a 300-megawatt (MW) circulating fluidized-bed coal-fired power plant in southern Davao.

AboitizPower said the project will be undertaken by subsidiary Therma South Inc. which is part of its commitment to supply the region’s power needs as its communities, industries, investments and commercial establishments grow—especially in Davao, which has the biggest power supply need in the region.

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